3 files changed, 20 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/lib/git/ext/gitdb b/lib/git/ext/gitdb
-Subproject 18152febd428e67b86bb4fb68ec1691d4de75a9
+Subproject 425ecf04aa5038c3d46b01ca20de17c51ef6c4e
diff --git a/lib/git/objects/commit.py b/lib/git/objects/commit.py
index 132d794b..f3a6e216 100644
--- a/lib/git/objects/commit.py
+++ b/lib/git/objects/commit.py
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ from time import (
 					altzone
 				)
 import os
+import sys
 
 __all__ = ('Commit', )
 
@@ -381,7 +382,13 @@ class Commit(base.Object, Iterable, Diffable, Traversable, Serializable):
 			write("encoding %s\n" % self.encoding)
 		
 		write("\n")
-		write(self.message)
+		
+		# write plain bytes, be sure its encoded according to our encoding
+		if isinstance(self.message, unicode):
+			write(self.message.encode(self.encoding))
+		else:
+			write(self.message)
+		# END handle encoding
 		return self
 	
 	def _deserialize(self, stream):
@@ -421,6 +428,11 @@ class Commit(base.Object, Iterable, Diffable, Traversable, Serializable):
 		# a stream from our data simply gives us the plain message
 		# The end of our message stream is marked with a newline that we strip
 		self.message = stream.read()
+		try:
+			self.message = self.message.decode(self.encoding)
+		except Exception:
+			print >> sys.stderr, "Failed to decode message: %s" % self.message
+		# END exception handling 
 		return self
 		
 	#} END serializable implementation
diff --git a/lib/git/objects/fun.py b/lib/git/objects/fun.py
index e73e93b0..9b0a377c 100644
--- a/lib/git/objects/fun.py
+++ b/lib/git/objects/fun.py
@@ -66,7 +66,14 @@ def tree_entries_from_data(data):
 		while data[i] != '\0':
 			i += 1
 		# END while not reached NULL
+		
+		# default encoding for strings in git is utf8
+		# Only use the respective unicode object if the byte stream was encoded
 		name = data[ns:i]
+		name_enc = name.decode("utf-8")
+		if len(name) > len(name_enc):
+			name = name_enc
+		# END handle encoding
 		
 		# byte is NULL, get next 20
 		i += 1